


What makes him tick

by darkrogue1 (Lily_Haydee_Lohdisse)



Category: Rivers of London - Ben Aaronovitch
Genre: Book 7: Lies Sleeping, Handcuffs, M/M, That relationship is still complicated
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-24
Updated: 2019-07-24
Packaged: 2020-07-19 03:33:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 533
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19967353
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lily_Haydee_Lohdisse/pseuds/darkrogue1
Summary: Lies Sleeping. Peter trained with cuffs. This is his exam.With Thomas Nightingale and handcuffs, if Peter Grant gets distracted, what could go wrong?





	What makes him tick

**Author's Note:**

> Re-reading Lies Sleeping, I had the weirdest idea.

"Are you ready ?" Nightingale asked, putting the mechanical timer back on the table. We were alone in the classroom, and I wasn't so sure anymore. It was one thing to practice with rivers - at the risk of getting wet, and another again to face a master wizard. My success at this test would condition the possibility of arresting Martin Chorley, and the thought of feeling those razors echo in his spells made me feel somewhat ill again. But it goes with the job, so I resigned myself, and nodded.  
  
"I won't go easy on you." He warned me. I thought of Tiger Tanks and shivered. Well, I still had confidence in the fact that Nightingale overpowered me so much he would manage not to harm me. Much. Maybe.  
  
I swallowed back my fears and opened the handcuffs. "Ready when you are, sir."  
  
He turned his back to me, I put the handcuffs on him, and as they clicked shut, started the clock.  
  
_Tick T..._  
  
He didn't even wait to start, but I was ready, and started with my usual finger in the ear distraction. Hey, whatever works, but it's a classic.  
  
_Tick..._  
  
I followed with a tug on the cuffs.  
  
_Tick.._.  
  
And a push forward.  
  
Nightingale retaliated by trying to swipe my legs and I shoved him into the wall. He might be experienced, but he certainly wasn't the first to try and resist my arrest.  
  
_Tick..._  
  
It was funny, feeling the ticking of Nightingale's clockwork _signare_ stop at the tick. It was very much like playing with a metronome. My dad has one back home, a mechanical one, and a happy memory of my childhood was me, playing with it, putting a finger in the path of the pendulum to disrupt its rhythm.  
  
_Tick... Tick... Tick..._  
  
I lost myself in the broken rhythm, adapting my responses to best distort it. Only the sudden lack of ticking made me come back to my senses, to hear the strained and loud protest that had probably been repeated more than once already.  
  
"Peter!"  
  
I had Nightingale still pressed against the wall, but my hands had strayed much further south than what I had intended.  
  
As if burnt, I jumped back, releasing him, and the instant I had, the cuffs fell to the floor, half melted.  
  
_Tick Tock._  
  
Neither of us moved. I didn't dare speak up.  
  
Then the alarm of the timer broke the heavy and awkward silence.  
  
Nightingale cleared his throat. He still didn't look at me. "You might want to think twice before using some of those techniques on a member of the public." I blushed. "Otherwise you are ready. You pass."  
  
I hoped he was sincere and not evading an eventual repeat performance. Not that I looked forward to facing him again too soon.  
  
He exited the room, his usual dignified movements hindered by a slight walking discomfort which he chose to totally ignore. As I had felt its heat under my hand, the cause of it really couldn't escape me.  
  
I sighed and put away the timer, grateful that the incident had had no witnesses.  
  
I guessed this it would be filed away with the Things We Were Not Talking About.  
  
  



End file.
